They call it ‘overview effect;’ the cognitive shift in awareness experienced by those fortunate enough to view earth as a “tiny, fragile ball of life hanging in the void.” ‘They’ being astronauts, of course. We may never be in a position to view the entire earth from a removed perspective but I feel a correlation between this ‘overview effect’ and our frequent travels to dark and desolate places where an evening with the stars reminds us of our dizzying and minuscule existence amidst the cosmos; and ideally by result, reminds us to love our fellow earthlings, because this little blue ball and its inhabitants is all we have. Northern California, August 2016